The Practicality of Godly Love

In math, it is called the “commutative property” meaning that reversing the order of the numbers in an equation does not change the answer. (ex - 2 +4 = 6 AND 4 + 2 =6). But in 1 John 4:8 when John indicates that God is love, there is no spiritual commutative property. Love does not define God. Instead, God defines love. For example, not all loving feelings are godly, and likewise God is loving both in His blessings and in His judgments. In this passage, John makes some very practical applications for the kind of godly love that believers should be showing in obedience to Christ.